AC Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri remained as unflappable as ever after watching his team struggle to a 2-0 win over Celtic in their opening Champions League group game on Wednesday.
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Allegri, in his fourth season at the club, spent most of last season and the summer surrounded by speculation that he could be fired, yet rarely batted an eyelid.
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His team looked anything but seven-time European champions on Wednesday and needed two goals in the last 10 minutes to spare them a resounding chorus of jeers at the end, yet Allegri took it all in his stride.
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"It was important to win, we suffered especially in the second half, at times we all seemed to run away from the ball, but then we took the game by the scruff of the neck," he told reporters.
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"We were lucky on the goal but it's a nice win by a group of boys who gave a performance of substance, even though they did not play well at times."
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"We know that game could get complicated, but we showed that we know how to get a result even if the difficult moments," he said.
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"This is an important result and I give credit to the lads. We played well for the first quarter of an hour and then we suffered a bit.
I also feel AC Milan can do better than they did due to their class and past records.
They need to do more!